Giant Lobelia Valley

Giant Lobelia Valley is an original illustration set in Ethiopian Highlands. It lies in equatorial latitudes, where the climate is subtropical highland — dry winters, mild summers.

Tall upright stems each crowned by a burst of long narrow leaves stand scattered through a broad valley floor. Pale golden tussock grass fills the ground between them, and the cool sunrise light is low and clean.

Why does the rosette close over itself at night?

The rosette closes over its own growing tip at night, trapping a layer of water that freezes and insulates the bud beneath — an antifreeze made of the plant's own architecture. Giant forms like this evolve repeatedly on tropical mountains, where it never gets warm but never gets a winter either, so plants keep growing without ever hardening off.

Terpano is a free daily geography puzzle. You study one original illustration, place a pin on a borderless terrain map, and see how close you were. There is no account and no sign-up; progress stays in your own browser. It plays in 11 languages.